F.E.A.R. Review
04 November 2005 | By Khan
Your hair will always be spiked as the game is quite creepy. Add to that great sound effects and you get a perfect game for late night play
F.E.A.R. as the name might suggest brings up images of something paranormal. The title in fact stands for First Encounter Assault Recon. F.E.A.R. is an extremely impressive FPS where you play a part of the mentioned "research" team. It has a well placed story line dealing with supernatural and mysterious. Your hair will always be spiked as the game gets quite creepy. Add to that great sound effects and you get a perfect game for the late night play...
If you are a gamer that enjoys a game based on a good story line this surely is the game for you. F.E.A.R also slightly reminds the player of Max Payne with its similar night backdrop scenes. The combat locations are well distributed which include isolated factories, industrial complexes and hotels. The Makers of F.E.A.R have made a good effort in making a FPS with a scary and creepy backdrop to it and they have succeeded upto a great extent.
F.E.A.R also scores on the very impressive sound and visual effects incorporated in the game which lets you enjoy the feel of the game with real intensity. In-game music is quite well balanced and you really enjoy the action scenes with the appropriate music playing in the background. I would also like to add that the sound effects of the bullets shooting off do give a very real feel to the whole thing. So the music and sound effects used are quite creepy and do give the player a feel of the bizzare situations of the game, hence, scoring on the main essence of the game.
Coming to the most important aspect of the game; THE GAMEPLAY… the gameplay is very interesting and will get you involved in the game making you want to replay certain stages. The A.I. of F.E.A.R is just too good, making it more interesting as it gives you a tough time winning over your enemies and completing the stages. I would definitely say that A.I. is so well balanced in the game that you don’t feel you are playing against a computer that would normaly be hendicaped on guessing your moves. Infact A.I. in F.E.A.R is so impressive that your enemies don’t just strike you head on but use various tactics in combats. When in a group they do display some very well coordinated moves and when singled out they try their best to run around, duck, take cover and defend themselves while trying to shoot you out. Hence making it very much near to reality and making the game very enjoyable and engrossing. F.E.A.R also has an added feature of Slow Motion Mode similar to Max Payne and Matrix where you can toggle it on and face your enemies and slay them with a little ease. The Slow Motion or the Slo Mo mode of this game is one of the best features that has been incorporated to perfection. It brings out the real details of the game. The makers of F.E.A.R have paid attention to real minute details and made the Slo Mo Mode keeping all these details in mind offering great visual impacts to the gamer as you see the whole thing in action. The sparks coming out as the bullets hit a metal surface and your enemies flipping and flying when shot at or blown off with a hand grenade. The Slow Motion mode however is not ever lasting and once it gets used up it takes a while till you get it recharged.
F.E.A.R doesn’t really offer an extraordinary choice of weaponry, The Weapons that you get to choose from are very much similar to those used in most of the FPS games, such as the pistol, shotgun, a sniper rifle, sub machine gun and a few more following ones. The weapon that really impressed me was the nailgun which gives you a kick when you nail your enemies to the wall. The other weapon that also impressed me to some level was the plasma rifle which doubles up as a sniper rifle. The special effects that you get to see when using the plasma rifle are just plain awesome to watch. When you use it on your enemy it will either blow him up or burn him down in blue flames giving great visual effects and a plain joy of watching. The regular grenades and rocket launchers will work the best when used in slo mo mode as you can see your enemies flying, flipping and exploding with a lot of blood splattering on the walls. If you really want to do a lot of damage I would recommend you use the shotgun and at times the plasma gun.
My favorite moment would be sneaking on enemies in slow motion mode, throwing a grenade while they would just stand there not knowing what was happening and then seing them toss in the air, flipping as the grenade explodes splattering the walls with blood.
 |
 |
|
| A little bit of action |
All that Blood and Gore... |
If you are a gamer that enjoys a game based on a good story line this surely is the game for you. F.E.A.R also slightly reminds the player of Max Payne with its similar night backdrop scenes. The combat locations are well distributed which include isolated factories, industrial complexes and hotels. The Makers of F.E.A.R have made a good effort in making a FPS with a scary and creepy backdrop to it and they have succeeded upto a great extent.
F.E.A.R also scores on the very impressive sound and visual effects incorporated in the game which lets you enjoy the feel of the game with real intensity. In-game music is quite well balanced and you really enjoy the action scenes with the appropriate music playing in the background. I would also like to add that the sound effects of the bullets shooting off do give a very real feel to the whole thing. So the music and sound effects used are quite creepy and do give the player a feel of the bizzare situations of the game, hence, scoring on the main essence of the game.
 |
 |
|
| Some of the backdrop scenes are real awesome... | Commandos getting ready for an asault in this aerial view from a chopper |
Coming to the most important aspect of the game; THE GAMEPLAY… the gameplay is very interesting and will get you involved in the game making you want to replay certain stages. The A.I. of F.E.A.R is just too good, making it more interesting as it gives you a tough time winning over your enemies and completing the stages. I would definitely say that A.I. is so well balanced in the game that you don’t feel you are playing against a computer that would normaly be hendicaped on guessing your moves. Infact A.I. in F.E.A.R is so impressive that your enemies don’t just strike you head on but use various tactics in combats. When in a group they do display some very well coordinated moves and when singled out they try their best to run around, duck, take cover and defend themselves while trying to shoot you out. Hence making it very much near to reality and making the game very enjoyable and engrossing. F.E.A.R also has an added feature of Slow Motion Mode similar to Max Payne and Matrix where you can toggle it on and face your enemies and slay them with a little ease. The Slow Motion or the Slo Mo mode of this game is one of the best features that has been incorporated to perfection. It brings out the real details of the game. The makers of F.E.A.R have paid attention to real minute details and made the Slo Mo Mode keeping all these details in mind offering great visual impacts to the gamer as you see the whole thing in action. The sparks coming out as the bullets hit a metal surface and your enemies flipping and flying when shot at or blown off with a hand grenade. The Slow Motion mode however is not ever lasting and once it gets used up it takes a while till you get it recharged.
 |
 |
|
| A spooky scene with a little girl |
Anybody seen Ring the movie? It's very close |
F.E.A.R doesn’t really offer an extraordinary choice of weaponry, The Weapons that you get to choose from are very much similar to those used in most of the FPS games, such as the pistol, shotgun, a sniper rifle, sub machine gun and a few more following ones. The weapon that really impressed me was the nailgun which gives you a kick when you nail your enemies to the wall. The other weapon that also impressed me to some level was the plasma rifle which doubles up as a sniper rifle. The special effects that you get to see when using the plasma rifle are just plain awesome to watch. When you use it on your enemy it will either blow him up or burn him down in blue flames giving great visual effects and a plain joy of watching. The regular grenades and rocket launchers will work the best when used in slo mo mode as you can see your enemies flying, flipping and exploding with a lot of blood splattering on the walls. If you really want to do a lot of damage I would recommend you use the shotgun and at times the plasma gun.
My favorite moment would be sneaking on enemies in slow motion mode, throwing a grenade while they would just stand there not knowing what was happening and then seing them toss in the air, flipping as the grenade explodes splattering the walls with blood.
 |
 |
|
| It just feels and looks superb |
Shotgun madness |
F.E.A.R. VERDICT
To sum it all up I would say F.E.A.R is a must buy for all you gamers who are die hard FPS fans and who also like a good story line as a backdrop to the game. This game will surely get you hooked and you would want to play certain stages of the game over and over again without getting bored. Try it out!
TOP GAME MOMENT
My favorite moment would be sneaking on enemies in slow motion mode, throwing a grenade while they would just stand there not knowing what was happening and then seing them toss in the air, flipping as the grenade explodes splattering the walls with blood.
It just feels and looks superb
Shotgun madness
